Though Boston Assistant GM Mike Hazen was attempting to pay tribute to the ultimate-gutty-gamer that is Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia, if I carefully excerpt his comments and omit the bits where Little Dusty seems like a role model (as opposed to, y’know, a fucking nut), you might get a slightly different impression. Here are Hazen’s comments during the Hot Stove Cool Music roundtable, as quoted by WEEI’s Alex Speier :
“I had the pleasure of being in Baltimore at the end of the season, that last road trip. We’re standing in the dugout, talking, Adam Jones is going to run up during batting practice to field his position. Pedroia just starts screaming at him.
“‘Don’t hit the ball my way tonight. I’m telling you right now, you better plan on pulling that thing because if you hit it my way, you’re out. You are out.’
“Adam Jones is running out to his position, looking around, like, ‘What? That guy’s crazy. What’s wrong with him?’ He didn’t respond.
“I looked at him and said, ‘Hey Pedey – we’ve lost 89 games and these guys are about to go to the playoffs.’ Then he turned on me and started screaming at me. ‘I don’t care how many games we’ve lost! I don’t care – that guy’s out!’
“After that, I said, ‘All right. All right.’ I walked away.